Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-12-21
NOTED COLORED WOMEN.
AfrO-.American Ladies' who Enjoy "A Ma
tionaI Renutation

hHO-American Ladies Who Enjoy Ma
tiOnal Reputation.
Mr.. I. Thomas Fortune il one OF the
ablest aud best-known colored men in the
country. He is man of thirty-fve or
therea bout, with a keen intellectual face
and quick interest in every thing that
concerns the future of the colored people
Of America.
"Tell me something" Mr.. Fortune was
asked a few days since by correspond
ent of the Minneapolis Tribune, "about
the women Of your race who have done
the most for IL and for themselves"
"Colored women have hardly had OPP
portunitv TO do much that is sensational"
he replied. "They haven't had time. But
stu there are several who are prominent
among their own people and who have
earned solid reputation. Take WASH
ington, for instance. Colored women Of
the best class there don't take much to
marry ing. They got along better than
the men and usually devote thems elves
earnestly 20 their work and succeed we'll
in IL. The most prominent colored women
in Washington in the best sense Of the
word are the teachers-such women
as Miss NJ. h. Briggs, professor
of English i'm Howard Uni
versity, most talented lady, or Josephine
j. Turpin, Of the same school, who il a
frequent contributor TO papers, or Lucy
Moulton, who is the efficient principal of a
big training school, or Mary Male or
Marian Shadd-all highly-cultured women,
respected and esteemed by those who
know them.
"ln Philadelphia there is the skIlful
woman physician, DIR. Caroline V. Ander.
son. She is the daughter of William Still,
a wealthy colored merchant and one Of
the directors of the underground railroad,
OF which he has written the history. His
daughter is a regular graduate OF the
medical department OF Howard Univer-
sty, and enjoys big practice. Philad,l-
phia Is the home Of numberless other
women Of character and ability. There is
Mrs. Fanny jackson Coppin, the lecturer,
who devOtes most of her time TO the insti-
tute for colored youth there. and Mrs Ger
trude MOselle, who used TO conduct the
woman's department on tho New York
Fireman, aud who has written for
the Philadelphia Times and the Phil
adelphia Press, as we'll "a for papers
published in the interest Of the
negro race. Mrs. Mos,lle is a membar Of
the Woman's National Press As ISOLATION,
the only member IT her race. Mrs. Frances
L. Harper, the temperance lecturer and
writer, la, lived much i'm Philadelphia
also.
ain Boston one OF the best-known coll
ored women Is modiste, whose eve for
effect in fabric, form and color has made
her rich.
"Other colOred women who have n wider
reputation than any OF these are Marie
Selka. the prima donna soprano, who was
born in Natchez and whose voice is Of such
sweetness, purity and compass that music
nj critics have called her second only TO
Patti Nine. Selika has taken Gerster's
place in concert in Bosto and has sung
before the crowned heads Of Europe.
mime. Nellie Brown Mitchell Is another
musician with n mechanical turn Of mind
She has invented and patented two or
three appliances now in common use
by musical instructors. Equally well
known in another branch of the
fine arts is Edmonia Lewis, the sculp.
tor She Is an Afro Indian, aud was
born In New York State, but now has her
studio In Rome. where she has plenty Of
commissions aud mas done some fine work.
| 'rhe Old Arrowmaker and His Daughter
i one OF her best-known productions and
is owned in England.
/ ada b. Wells-'Iola'-whos suit for
/ damages under Mississippi laws for being
forcibly thrust out Of passenger car in
/ Memphis 10y three or four white men
/ brought her before the public a few years
ago, Is probably the best known of colored
women journalists, and Mss NJ. f..
Lambert, of Detroit. is poetess of genius.
The wife OF Rev. Frank Grimke, OF Jack
sonville, Fla, formerly Mss Forten, OF
Philadelphia. is young woman but al
ready widely known"
Mr.. Fortune told me that Philadelphia
and Boston are the cities where one may
see his race at its best This may be part
" because the old Abolition leaven in
Boston and the Quaker ant.slavery
sentiment in Philadelphia attracted
from the first the most intelli
gent aud progressive colored people, and
this early influence is still determining
factor. IL might possibly happen I'm an
other city than Boston that young white
girl. beautiful, OF the best family and a
college graduate, would marry young
colored man with no money or position
and nothing but Intelligence aud good
breeding TO recommend him, but in few
other cities would such a match meet even
the qualified approval on the part OF
friends and society in general that wa,
given il in a certain Hub instance / hav,
in mind.
asked Mr.. Fortune il he knew any col.
ored women who were reputed wealthy
but he did not seem especially interested
in that branch Of the subject, and re-
spected his reticence. IL would not b,
difficult. however, to pick out dozen col
ored women In the country whose property
in the aggregate might be expressed, "oI
information aud belief" by seven figures
In such list would come the GlOucesters
the rich boarding house keepers o
Brooklyn; Miss Amanda Eubanks, o
Roms. TIA, whose white father left he
500, 900; Mrs, may A. Wilson, wealthy
Florida womans Mrs Nary Peasants, o
San Francisco. who holds something NOR
than $35.0)o in Government bonds, owns I
ranch and has some city real estate; Mrs
Jamps Thomas. OF St Louis. who Is wortl